Perception
by runickenaz
Summary: What happened before the final battle at Koshi Castle?


******Disclaimer****: All characters and fictional places mentioned in this story belong to Koei. **

This is a third person story, following the events before the final battle at Koshi Castle, and I made it ambiguous to the multiple storylines of each kingdom's scenario. So… blah!

******Perception**

He descended from the heavens to amuse himself humanity's strength. His face is that of an ordinary human, who is hungry for pain and has an unquenchable thirst for great challenge. The Serpent King sits on his majestic throne as his eyes advert from the annoyances of everyday mortal life. A demon, this King's aura is certainly unhallowed and treacherous. His crown is that of a venomous snake, poison to the blood of man. His body is stiff and his distinctive colored eyes dart restlessly. He felt the need to doze a bit after his strategist's long quirky briefing, but before he barely catches a meager two winks, the she-devil herself appears with a glee on her face.

Across the room, a lithe creature, she is known for her deviousness and mischief nature. Her eyes are bubbly with deceit and deception as to her womanly frame gives off an immodest show. Moreover, unwavering in arrogance and with devotion to her Lord, she glides her way to his side, her flowing five silk ribbons tailing behind. She smoothes her violet hair and spots a helpless minion gathering itself from the altar. She stabs her foot on the back of the underworld laborer. "Hello!" She uses her playful voice, dazing the startled worker. "You've done great work, haven't you?" The tone of her sweet allure awakes the Serpent King from his light slumber. "You made the altar look so..." The woman puts her hands on her hips and walks toward the decorated sacrificial altar, the laborer slides aside as its superior inspects the work. "Hmm, it's good, but there's one thing missing."

One quick swoop of her hand and a bloody sacrifice is made. "There!" She clasps her hands together. "I love it! So… pretty!" Her hands fresh in dripping red, her tongue savors her fingers. "Hm, who said doing this is always a bad thing?"

Da Ji flips her strands of hair against the airy wind and turns to see her bothered Lord. Her little lips crack a smile, "You've summoned me, my Lord?" She kneels before the demonic king as he gestures for her privilege to speak. The Serpent King slits his eyes enough to heed his vassal's words; however, he makes a quick glance and immediately rises to his feet.

"What is wrong? I didn't even get to say anything yet." The fox-demon pouts and sits on her knees when she sees her Lord walking toward the throne room doors. The room is empty. Despite the two unholy glows emitting from the demons, the room is almost bare and dead. Before she catches herself, while looking to one side, her mind is elsewhere. Her Lord is about to step out to confront his strength against humanity. Her little voice is barely a whisper. "We should really do something about the castle's interior walls, Oro-Chi-Sa-Ma."

His scythe in hand, he grips the handle firmly. He speaks in a neither celestial nor human, booming voice. "The humans have a way to wage savage war." He forms a shaking fist with his free hand. "Soon I shall witness the strength of mortality, and see if there is no human greater than I."

"Oh goody!" The devil woman is suddenly by his side sitting on one of her levitating orbs. "I can't wait for my Lord's kingdom to flourish and be soon rid of the weak peons." Da Ji cannot resist her overwhelming delight. "Of course, I'll have fun taking the lambs into the slaughter!"

"Hmm," intrigues the Serpent, his eye corners to his strategist. "It has been... a speck... since then...?"

"A what?" The fox woman flutters her innocent eyes. What did he mean? Ah well~ Back to business! She holds her head high, and snaps on a sly expression. "Orochi-sama, the plans for the next battle? Shall we review?"

"Humor me." Orochi's flat tone gives into an additional bellow in each word he spoke.

Taking a step forward, she snaps her fingers, "Keiji and Lu Bu."

The gleam in his eyes show no fear and rides wherever the winds of fate take him. Keiji Maeda is also known for his loud mouth. "Hey, what's up?" He throws a friendly punch to Orochi. The Serpent King and a shrugging Da Ji exchange looks. "Orochi, you crazy amazing snake in the grass man, you…" Despite his strange behavior, Keiji is a powerful ally in the Orochi Army. "Don't ya worry that creepy headdress wearing head of yours, ya hear?"

"Anyway," Da Ji interrupts and rolls her eyes. "Lu Bu? Where's Lu Bu?"

A gruff comes from outside the throne room. "Let him be. He knows what he must do." Orochi knows his vassals' intentions. He knows this certain warrior will not let him down. A lecture and a review equals three hours lost. However, an argument issued but settled in agreement two hours later.

We're set then," The wild man is stiff from his sitting position. He groans as he cracks his back. "Yeah, that should do it." He looks to where Lu Bu is standing like a statue, and watches him leave without saying a word. "Oh well." He muses his eyes elsewhere. He cranes his neck forward and sees a dead minion on the altar. "Cool…This place gets creepier by the second." His sniffs a grand aroma. Keiji rushes out the throne room and into hallway connecting to the mess hall.

Nightfall rouses with its silver eye watching the tranquil of the earth. The enemy is said to be arriving in a week's notice. Preparations are almost complete, reinforcements are still coming this way, most supplies of rations and such are entirely restocked. Strength in numbers is meaningless. Use the weak in numbers and dispatch them without regret. Mobilize fear in the troops to obtain higher accomplishments. Those who defeat others with power alone are everything in this world. The weak shall never survive. Ha! A demon carries this wise philosophy.

Crafty, yet sadistic Da Ji. Arrogant, yet powerful Orochi. What is to become of the two, after humanity have fallen to it knees and realizes it weakness?

Koshi Castle. Even if the land holds and houses the sinster Orochi army, there is no reason why the good and the evil share the same night sky.

Near the middle of the tower, pass the many stairwells, unveils a secret. The fox girl dances with her arms as if in flight, twirling her hands in her own seductive rhythm, her body wrapped in her outfit's silk ribbons. Da Ji's maniacal laughter echoes throughout the entire little play. "Oh the screams will make me shudder with glee!" She twinkles like the pale moon under a serene lake's bottom. Her tiptoes balance the weight of her slow and death ballet. "What great fun! Screams! The screams and cries!" She sings and waves her stretch fingers in the air. Her twists and turns eventually engulf her into drunken madness.

Her Lord stands stoic by her entertainment.

Her voices jumps in excitement, "Whatever shall I do? Whatever shall I do? The countless ways to prick, poke, slice, and dice mortal flesh and maybe feast on mortal blood." Da Ji dances, twirls, lunges, and spins, her eyes closed, and steps without direction, she is unaware of her trouble.

Her stumble does not cease her from asking, "Did you enjoy my lovely dance, my Lord?"

The snake walks over his strategist's aching body. His fingertips brush away his dark locks from his sight. "Enough." Shifting his weight in boredom, he changes the subject. "Such monotony." He knocks the mistress aside before she can stand up again, and sits astride on his throne, leaning forward to silently attend to the girl's words. The king turns attention to his subordinate; his dangling hair partially obscures, again, his view of the sitting beautiful fox demon rubbing her sore leg. Tired, he eases himself on his throne, disguising his petty nuisance.

Da Ji struggles off the floor, her arms are droopy before she soothes them with her fingers. Her back faces the spirit reaper, whom is still eyeing her every move. A forewarning, the snake is near, readily poses with it poisonous fangs, "Realize your place in this world. Do not be blind for only humans struggle for existence with their ideals and lies. Only the strong survive while the weak perish."

She turns her head to her lord, giving him a coy smirk, replying and nodding, "My Lord, of course, I have not ideas above my station." Orochi looks down upon his lady tactician. The ground lightly rumbles with rapid motion to the sole of his boots. They creep into the fox girl's ears. She feels he is anticipating her direct thoughts. "I am just a woman, whom is weaker and submissive, yet strong and intelligent like any other man and demon alike." Again, for the third time and now, she too notices his strands of hair covering his tertiary-colored eyes.

"True." Orochi has his arms folded across his dark armor chest. The reaper's weapon rises by his side; the curved blade head faces the ground. The Serpent King is enthralled, pleased with this woman's answer. "You know your place in this world, don't you, my dear?" He holds out his hand. The King awaits the she-demon's answer.

"I shall do as you command me, my Lord." A delicacy fit for royalty, a sacrifice tonight, and maybe, for now on, the same every night.

Even the almighty King needs to meet his desires no matter how suppressed he has kept them from being notice. Da Ji should know this by now and yet… the snake coils and wraps his poison, swiftly and steadily. He supports her chin with just one finger, tilting her head enough for her to watch his every movement on his face. Letting the lesser woman tuck the bothersome bunch of hair in its rightful place and removing his crown, he asked for now to relinquishes his monarch rule as King, reverting only to a mere equivalent of a human. Da Ji has never seen a man so… powerful. She cannot resist to lick her lips.

Ah, soft untainted delicious skin! Puncturing his fangs into his fox mistress' delicate throat, her mouth is pressed by his harsh cold hand, silencing her muffling. Her heart skips a beat, her body frozen without great thought; her eyes dare not blink from the snake's stone glare. Can it be the snake's poison? What can he possibly mean?

Despite his double tones in his voice, the vocals remain gentle and pleased, "You did not resist. You do know your place. Good, good…" Orochi's purplish lips curve a half-hearted smile. Caught in his trap, she is unable to free herself from his control. However, is she certain this is all his doing? Or rather is it something more than just a deadlock trance? Her Lord brings her body closer to his mountainous build, leaving a centimeter's gap for a sense of intimacy. Tension grows between the two as they both gaze into each other's deep emptiness.

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**Author's Note: **A one-shot of Orochi + Da Ji. I wrote this about two years ago, so I decided to rewrite it. Review please~


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